The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals
The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is a 2018 musical by Team StarKid. Their 11th musical, it is an original work written by Nick and Matt Lang, with music by Jeff Blim. Summary The story centers around Paul, a guy who doesn't like musicals. He and his friends are forced to survive in a world that is slowly becoming a musical, with people spontaneously singing and dancing in synchronization. Plot In the opening number, the ensemble establishes that the protagonist, Paul, has a strong disliking towards musicals ("The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals"). We are then introduced to Paul alongside his co-workers, Bill, Ted, Charlotte, Melissa and their boss, Mr. Davidson. This particular scene shows us that Charlotte has a strained relationship with her cop husband, Sam, and that Bill and his daughter, Alice, also have a strained relationship. Paul goes to the coffee shop around the corner where we are introduced to Emma, a barista who Paul has a crush on. She doesn't enjoy the new company incentive to sing when tipped. That night a meteor crashes into the Hatchetfield starlight theatre, which unknown to Paul has brought an alien infection that forces the infected to act as if they are in a musical. As he walks to work he begins to notice people dancing in the street, before being confronted by a Greenpeace worker who breaks out into song, the rest of the nearby people joining in ("La Dee Dah Dah Day"). Bewildered, he goes to work and finds the same thing has happened to Mr. Davidson ("What Do You Want, Paul?"). Scared, he flees to the coffee shop, where it initially appears Emma has been infected too, though her singing was just further musical incentives from her boss, including a specific song and dance which she later performs with her co-workers ("Cup of Roasted Coffee"). After the song continues longer than it should, Emma and Paul discover that the coffee is being poisoned and people are indeed being infected and the world is becoming a musical ("Cup of Poisoned Coffee"). After running away, they find their way to where Paul's co-workers are hiding out in an alley but are met by Sam, Charlotte's husband, and his fellow police officers who have become infected ("Show Me Your Hands"). After singing, Ted hits Sam over the head with a trash can lid while the other officers escape. The group takes the wounded Sam with them to Professor Hidgen's house, one of Emma's teachers at her community college and a doomsday survivalist. The group ties the unconcious Sam to a chair to prevent him from escaping. While left alone with his wife, Sam awakens and convinces Charlotte (through song) to untie him, allowing him to kill and infect her ("You Tied Up My Heart"). Meanwhile, Emma and Paul have a tender conversation about their backgrounds and dreams. Suddenly, the infected Charlotte and Sam arrive, urging the survivors to "Join Us and Die". They attack the group, but are swiftly shot and killed by Professor Hidgens with a shotgun. Hidgens and Emma try to analyze the alien matter, while Paul helps Bill track down his daughter, Alice, who is held up in Hatchetfield High School. The pair arrive at the High School, bringing the shotgun to defend themselves with, but Alice has already been infected. The assimilated Alice torments Bill, telling him that he never paid any attention to her, and that he is responsible for getting his daughter killed ("Not Your Seed"). Bill attempts to shoot himself out of grief, but Paul stops him, only for the infected Alice to take the gun and shoot Bill, killing him. Just as the infected are about to kill Paul, the army arrives and chases the infected students away, saving Paul. General MacNamara tells Paul there is a helicopter due to leave soon and gives him the chance to save his friends and get out of the city. Meanwhile, the professor has decided against stopping the aliens, believing it better to join them, with a musical world allowing world peace. He ties up Emma and Ted, drawing in the infected with a song he wrote, as well as pitching a musical he's created, Working Boys: A New Musical. Paul arrives to save Emma and Ted, while the professor becomes infected ("A Show Stoppin' Number"). The gang bump into General MacNamara and the army, who are now infected too, where they managed to infect Ted ("American is Great Again"). Paul and Emma escape to the helicopter, where Emma's leg is impaled. They are left with no way out, they are forced to destroy the meteor but with Emma unable to move, Paul has to do it alone. At the meteor crash site, the infected eagerly await Paul's imminent arrival ("Let Him Come"). As he arrives at the meteor, Paul has to fight the infection, his proximity to it forcing him to let out a song. At the end of the song, he manages to break out of his infected state for a small moment to destroy the meteor with a grenade he took from the helicopter, presumably killing himself in the process ("Let It Out"). Two weeks later, Emma is released from Clivesdale hospital, under witness protection and is now known as Kelly. After being told she was the only survivor from the epidemic that happened in Hatchetfield, she is told that she would be escorted by a man by the name of Ben Bridges, at which point Paul enters and the two are reunited. In a cruel twist of fate, Paul begins to sing and is surrounded by a number of other characters as they reprise all the previous songs, while Emma is in disbelief. When the song finishes, they bow, while Emma still looks for a way out, eventually reaching out to the audience before being taken away by Paul and the infected ("Inevitable"). Cast Jon Matteson as Paul Lauren Lopez as Emma and Ensemble Joey Richter as Ted, Homless Guy, and Ensemble Corey Dorris as Bill and Ensemble Robert Manion as Professor Hidgens, Hot Chocolate Guy, and Ensemble Jaime Lyn Beatty as Charlotte, Nora, Deb, and Ensemble Jeff Blim as Sam, General MacNamara and Ensemble Mariah Rose Faith as Alice, Zoey and Ensemble Songs * The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals- Ensemble * La Dee Dah Dah Day- Greenpeace Girl, Homeless Man, and Ensemble * What Do You Want, Paul?- Mr. Davidson * Cup of Roasted Coffee- Emma, Nora, and Zoey * Cup of Poisoned Coffee- Nora, Zoey, and Customers * Show Me Your Hands- Sam, Officer 1, and Officer 2 * You Tied Up My Heart- Sam * Join Us and Die- Charlotte, and Sam * Not Your Seed- Alice, Deb, and Grace * A Show Stoppin' Number- Professor Hidgens, "Greg", and "Stu" * American is Great Again- General McNamara, and Soldiers * Let Him Come - Ensemble * Let It Out- Paul and Ensemble * Inevitable- Paul and Ensemble (except for Emma) Category:Shows